What Inspired Swami Vivekananda To Become A Spiritual Leader

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Swami Vivekananda, the great preacher of spirituality believed that a conventional outlook towards life was not always the correct one. A modern outlook for spirituality, he was one of the most celebrated and popular spiritual leaders. This year in 2020, January 12 will mark his 157th birthday.

His words continue to inspire us until this day through various books and through word of mouth from his disciples. What led him to become a spiritual leader was his quest for God.

Swami Vivekananda's Quest For God

Swami Vivekananda or Narendra's (as he was known during childhood) quest for the existence of God led him to Sri Ramakrishna. He was a seeker of truth even before embracing monkhood. But he possessed a rational outlook towards things and he believed in them only after subjecting them to a test. The truth had to be tangible to him. Though he sought to find his answers through books and religious discussions, the conviction about the existence of God somehow did not appease his rational outlook until he met Sri Ramakrishna.

Narendra's Question To His Guru

Narendra on one of his visits to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa asked whether he had seen God expecting the master to come up with a negative answer. The master replied that he saw God and he saw him with more intensity. It is possible for one to see and talk to him, but there were hardly a few who showed keen interest in seeing him. Narendra could sense the ringing of truth in the master's words but still could not be pacified wanting direct experience.

The Realisation Of The Supreme

One day Sri Ramakrishna's statement that everything was really God, tickled the laughter out of Narendra and his comrades that they rushed out of the room to the adjoining verandah. The youngsters burst out in laughter in the verandah making comic variations with the Guru's theme. They went about saying " This jug is God and these flies are God !" Just then the master stepped out of the room and touched Narendra. The laughter ceased and Narendra could perceive God in everything around without exclusion. He felt God or saw him, but the only thing he believed thereafter was that God exists. He realised through experience what the scriptures spoke of.